Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-88-054-1936: U.S. Customs Service; Washington, D.C.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Reh, Christopher M.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the National Treasury Employees Union, an investigation was made of possible hazardous working conditions at the headquarters of the U.S. Customs Service (SIC-9311), Washington, D.C. An electrical transformer located in the headquarters building leaked about 30 gallons of a cooling oil known to contain polychlorinated biphenyls (1336363) (PCBs) in the fall of 1987. The extent of the PCB contamination was determined during this investigation. Air and surface sampling was performed in and around room B100 where the transformer vault was located. Area air sampling found no detectable levels of PCBs in the vault, in other areas of the room, in an adjacent office and projection room, or in the hallway. Surfaces within the room, including the vault, were heavily contaminated with PCBs, with surface concentrations ranging from 3720 to 148,000 micrograms per square meter (microg/m2). The basement hallway had surface concentrations of 224, 234, and 321microg/m2. Surface sampling in a nearby office room showed PCB levels to be well below the recognized background concentration. The author concludes that there was a potential health hazard from PCB surface contamination in Room B100. Levels in adjacent areas were above background levels. The author recommends that contaminated surfaces in B100 be cleaned to below 1000microg/m2, and no entry should be allowed until cleanup is complete. The hallway should be cleaned to below 100microg/m2.
• Subjects:
  Hydrocarbons Occupational Health Polychlorinated Biphenyls Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Aroclor 1254 Aroclor 1260 Chlorinated-hydrocarbons Electrical-equipment Hazard-Confirmed HETA-88-054-1936 NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 3 PCBs Polychlorinated Biphenyls Public Finance, Taxation, And Monetary Policy Transformer Vault Workplace-studies

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA880541936
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  19 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Bryant, Charles J. ; Jenkins, Sharon
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00186187
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB89-188015
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 88-054-1936, 1988 Nov ; :1-17
• CAS Registry Number:
  Polychlorinated biphenyl(s)-PCB(s) (CAS RN 1336-36-3)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1989
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  9311 - Finance, taxation, & monetary policy - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:40998b306dc884e5735da58bdac61df92d10fcdcf47b56dfdc7d7b3e343798e62209a0186970cad8b128e0ab6d2889df665941986970f49bdcb3a2245e990be6
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171856/cdc_171856_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 767.84 KB ]